Camrose Capital Investment Partners LLP Buys New Shares in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Camrose Capital Investment Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 481,103 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $76,909,000. Yum! Brands makes up about 8.7% of Camrose Capital Investment Partners LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Camrose Capital Investment Partners LLP owned 0.18% of Yum! Brands at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Steph & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 107.5% in the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Wiser Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on YUM. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $174.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Weiss Ratings cut Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.65.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $157.42 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $137.33 and a 1-year high of $170.14. The stock has a market cap of $42.96 billion, a PE ratio of 19.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $153.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $155.97.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.04. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 25.42% and a negative return on equity of 24.57%. The company had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, June 16th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 3,494 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.00, for a total value of $552,052.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 3 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $474. This represents a 99.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 7,961 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total value of $1,219,227.15. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 11,960 shares in the company, valued at $1,831,674. This represents a 39.96% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 19,043 shares of company stock worth $2,978,180. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc (NYSE: YUM) is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company’s principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company’s operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.